Politics & Law

The Continental Congress

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Type=Fine%2520Bindings%2520and%2520Sets" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">finely bound</a> Journal of Congress for the year 1776.<ul><li>Journals of Congress. Containing the Proceedings from January I 1776, to January 1, 1777. Volume II.</li><li>York-town Pennsylvania: By the Order of Congress, Printed by John Dunlap, 1778.</li><li>Index at rear.</li><li>Bound in quarter green leather, gilt title to spine.</li></ul> This Journal of Congress contains an early printing of the Declaration of Independence. The printer of this edition, John Dunlap, also printed the original broadside of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. An important record of American history.

Journals Of Congress...January 1, 1776 To January 1, 1777 | An Early Printing of The Declaration of Independence

John D. Rockefeller

Standard Oil Company stock certificate issued to and signed by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=John+D.+Rockefeller&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">John D. Rockefeller</a>, for 505 shares.<ul><li>Cleveland: December 17, 1878.</li><li>Engraved stock certificate, With an additional partly-printed receipt tipped at the left edge.</li><li>Signed by Rockefeller as President at the lower right, endorsement signature by Rockefeller on verso and signed on the affixed receipt.</li><li>Countersigned by H. M. Flagler.</li></ul> A triple-signed Standard Oil Company stock certificate, for shares issued to Rockefeller himself at an early date, prior to the company's reorganization in 1882.

Standard Oil Company Stock Certificate Issued to and Signed by John D. Rockefeller

Charles W Hash

Overseas With Colonel Charles W Hash, 8mm Footage, showing <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=World+War+II&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">World War II</a> in color.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 4 reels of 8mm film stock.&nbsp;</li><li>Filmed by Charles W. Hash (American, 1910-1998).</li><li>Various (Fort Lewis, WA and The Pacific Theatre):&nbsp;n.p,&nbsp;[ca. 1941-1944].</li><li>Majority color, with some black and white.</li><li>Approximately 800 feet total.</li><li>Metal reels in two-piece outer cans.</li><li>Cans with etched titles and dates and mounted labels.</li><li>A full preliminary digitization of the films is available.</li></ul> Freshly-discovered 8mm color film footage of World War II service — quite possibly the only entirely amateur WWII color footage by an American soldier extant — shot by Montana-native Charles W. Hash of the 41st Infantry Division. Hash enlisted in the Army in 1930, served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, earning multiple decorations, including the Silver Star for actions in the Papuan Campaign. He was commissioned as a captain during WWII, commanding Company H (a rifle division) of the 163rd Infantry Regiment of the Montana National Guard. He later commanded the entire Army Reserve Forces of Northern California, and retired a Colonel in 1965. Despite his clear interest and skill, we find no evidence that Hash was officially involved in film at any point in his long and distinguished military career. Spread across four, approximately 200-foot reels of film (totaling some 45 minutes), these films cover Hash's stateside training at Fort Lewis and combat duty with the 41st in Australia (near Rockhampton), Hollandia, New Guinea, Biak, and The Philippines. Footage is creatively titled using homemade screens of white pegboard letters laid over a standard G.I. wool blanket to mark dates, locations, and settings.&nbsp;He was clearly an avid hobbyist, with a strong documentarian instinct that belies what must have been his normal day-to-day responsibilities. The footage here offered represents an unfiltered, vernacular look into the daily lives of ordinary combat soldiers. This is especially noteworthy because strict censorship regarding photography was in place during the War. And while many GIs captured snapshots of combat and wartime service, only a handful of similar moving picture footage is known. A motion picture camera would have been much more difficult to conceal than a standard film camera (though Hash's advanced rank perhaps made this less of an issue) and shooting in color would have been both prohibitively expensive and technically difficult for most soldiers of the era.

Overseas With Colonel Charles W Hash | 8mm Footage

William Gordon

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a> of The History of the Rise, Progress, and Establishment of the Independence of the United States of America: including an account of the late war; and of the thirteen colonies from their origin to that period.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 4 volumes.</li><li>William Gordon (American).</li><li>London:&nbsp;Printed for the Author,&nbsp;1788.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>[26],504;[8],584;[8],499;[6],445,[35] pages.</li><li>9 folding maps.</li><li>Modern morocco backed period marbled paper covered boards.</li></ul> "First full-scale history of this war by an American; to its preparation Jefferson contributed some aid" (Howes). "Gordon is deservedly reckoned as the most impartial and reliable of the numerous historians of the American Revolution" (Sabin). Gordon was a dissenting minister in England, who like many of his class sympathized with the contention of the Thirteen Colonies. Going to America during the disturbances and becoming pastor of the church at Jamaica Plain, now a district of Boston, he was throughout the Revolution a spectator close at hand of many important events, and the associate of many of the chief patriots. The maps illustrate the eastern United States, Boston, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Vermont, the Carolinas and part of Georgia, Charlestown with Sir Peter Parker's attack on Fort Moultrie, part of Virginia, and "York Town and Gloucester Point, as besieged by the allied army."

The History of the Rise, Progress, and Establishment of the Independence of the United States of America | First Edition

Alexander Hamilton | James Madison | John Jay

Second edition, first in French, of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=The+Federalist+Papers&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Federalist Papers</a>.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 2 volumes.</li><li>Alexander Hamilton (American).</li><li>James Madison (American).</li><li>John Jay (American).</li><li>Le Fédéraliste, ou Collection de quelques Écrits en faveur de la Constitution proposée aux États-Unis de l'Amérique, par la Convention convoquée en 1787.</li><li>Paris:&nbsp;Chez Buisson, Libraire, rue Hautefeuille,&nbsp;1792.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>[5],xxii-lii,[1]-366; [4],511 pages.</li><li>Half titles present.</li><li>Contemporary mottled calf, finely rebacked with gilt spines.</li></ul> The first French edition of Hamilton, Madison, and Jay's celebrated collection of articles supporting the ratification of the United States Constitution. The other issue of this printing contains an introduction by the translator, M. Trudaine de la Sablière, in the first volume (not present here, hence the irregular pagination); the preliminary pages here contain the U.S. Constitution. It is the second edition overall, and the first edition to name the previously anonymous authors (giving their names as Hamilton, Madisson, and Gay). An important edition evocative of the significance of the American precedent to the French revolutionaries.

The Federalist Papers | Second Edition, First Edition in French 

Aaron Burr | Samuel Otis

Original subpoena issued in the name of President of the U.S. Senate, <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Aaron+Burr&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Aaron Burr</a>, requesting that the individuals named appear for testimony in the impeachment of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=US+Supreme+Court&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">US Supreme Court</a> Justice Samuel Chase.<ul><li>For Aaron Burr (American).</li><li>Named Individuals: Samuel Otis, William Rawle, Jared Ingersoll, Samuel Wheeler, and Thomas Carpenter.</li><li>Washington D.C.: 1804.&nbsp;</li><li>Signed twice (front and back) by Secretary of the U.S. Senate, Samuel Otis.</li></ul>

Samuel Chase | Subpoena For Impeachment | Twice Signed by Samuel Otis

Group of binders containing primarily inter-office memos from <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Lyndon%20B.%20Johnson&amp;tab=objects" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lyndon B. Johnson</a> pollster Fred Panzer, dating from January 1966 to January 1969.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 10 binders.</li><li>(Washington, D.C.):&nbsp;n.p,&nbsp;(1965-1969).</li><li>Primarily carbon, some typed and some photocopy on a variety of paper stocks.</li><li>Various other documents: photocopied reports, newspaper and magazine articles, et cetera.</li><li>Also includes: two 3" binders dating from July 1966-Feb 1967 containing memos by or to Tad Cantril; two 3" binders containing research for a position paper addressing the "credibility gap"; two 1.5" binders containing information on administration accomplishments from 1965; two folders containing transcripts of the LBJ Library Oral History Project interview with Panzer; and relating ephemera.</li><li>Approximately four linear feet in all.</li><li>Original binders unsalvageable and now perished; rehoused in new three-ring binders, maintaining original divisions and order.</li></ul> An exhaustive archive of polling, public opinion, and related papers (including memos and other internal communications, research materials, and like) belonging to Fred Panzer, President Lyndon B. Johnson's chief pollster. More than any other president preceding him, Johnson relied on polling. Similar statements could also have been made of JFK (and arguably Truman…and even FDR), but Johnson commissioned more than four times the number of polls as Kennedy. And while Kennedy utilized polling primarily in crafting his message, LBJ was the first president to extensively use polls in his decision- and policy-making. Therefore polling — and by extension Fred Panzer — helped shape the presidency in a way that hadn't been seen before. Ten binders from the desk of Fred Panzer make up the bulk of the archive, creating an exhaustive survey of his work at the White House. Several additional binders of related materials (research, file copies, etc.) round out the archive. Together, a comprehensive look at executive branch polling, both its directions and effects, during a particularly turbulent time in American history, all from the point of view of a man at the center of modern political public opinion.

Archive of White House Memoranda and Other Documents from Lyndon B. Johnson Pollster Fred Panzer

Martin Luther King, Jr.

An undocumented <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first printing</a> of The Riverside Church Speech by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Martin%20Luther%20King%20Jr&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Martin Luther King Jr</a>.<ul><li>Martin Luther King Jr. (American).</li><li>Later titled Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence.</li><li>n.p.:&nbsp;n.p,&nbsp;[1967].</li><li>8 pages.</li><li>Printed rectos only.</li><li>Top stapled self-wrappers.</li></ul> Previously unrecorded first printing of one of King's most important speeches: his anti-war address at The Riverside Church, delivered exactly one year to the day before his assassination. "If we will make the right choice, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our world into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood." King's Riverside Church Speech (later titled "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence," but here untitled) was the civil rights leader's first sustained and major public statement regarding the Vietnam War. Before a crowd of more than 3000, King called for not only an end to the war, but explicitly linked the anti-war movement to the larger movements for civil rights and economic justice: "Perhaps the more tragic recognition of reality took place when it became clear to me that the war was doing far more than devastating the hopes of the poor at home. It was sending their sons and their brothers and their husbands to fight and to die in extraordinarily high proportions relative to the rest of the population. We were taking the black young men who had been crippled by our society and sending them eight thousand miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East Harlem." This edition is unknown and unrecorded. It is not mentioned in the major King bibliographies. The introductory paragraph ("The following is the exclusive and authorized publication of the address [...] sponsored by Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam") suggests it was likely printed either by that group or King's camp. Such a printing could have been issued for members not in attendance, for press distribution at or immediately following the event, or simply to secure copyright. (The text also ends with a copyright notice by King, dated 1967.) This version differs in a number of significant ways from final published versions that appeared later. Some of these differences are accounted for by this printing's "slightly condensed" version. Others, however, clearly predate King's later revisions and finalizations which, along with the lack of title on this edition, all clearly mark the text as an early version, contemporaneous or nearly so with the event itself — and almost certainly preceding the earliest (also very rare) reprints undertaken by a number of California groups (where Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam were based, and all under the title "Beyond Vietnam") in the subsequent months. Indeed, the ditto'd presentation strongly suggests a smaller, more immediate circulation. The speech was widely criticized at the time. In the following days, more than 150 newspapers around the country condemned King, and in the aftermath of the address President Johnson dis-invited King from the White House, a rift in their relationship from which they never recovered. Among Black leaders the reception was also decidedly mixed, with many believing King's focus on the war distracted from more pressing concerns. As journalist Tavis Smiley, who produced a documentary on the speech, explained: "it was the most controversial speech he ever gave. It was the speech he labored over the most [and] got Martin King in more trouble than anything he had ever seen or done." Nevertheless, its reputation has only grown in the ensuing years. James Bevel considered it King's greatest speech, and King's intersectional understanding has been increasingly recognized as prescient. A rare and revealing document from one of King's most enduring public addresses.

The Riverside Church Speech: "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence"

John Marshall

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first American edition</a> of The Life of George Washington, by <a href="sothebys.com/en/search?query=John%20Marshall&amp;tab=objects" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">John Marshall</a>.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 6 volumes.</li><li>John Marshall (American).</li><li>The Life Of George Washington, Commander In Chief Of The American Forces [...] [with] Maps And Subscribers' Names.</li><li>Philadelphia:&nbsp;C.P. Wayne,&nbsp;1804-1807.&nbsp;</li><li>Octavos, plus a quarto atlas.</li><li>Volumes 1-5 are bound in full tree calf, spines of volumes 1-2 have maroon and black labels with gilt lettering and ornamentation, spines of volumes 3-5 have faded maroon labels with gilt lettering and ornamentation.</li><li>Atlas volume is quarter bound in brown leather with corners tipped and marbled paper boards.</li></ul> Contents: Volume I:<ul><li>xxii, 488, 45 pages.</li><li>Published in 1804.</li><li>Contains a frontis portrait of George Washington.</li></ul> Volume II:<ul><li>viii, 560, 72 pages.</li><li>Published in 1804.</li></ul> Volume III:<ul><li>viii, 580, 28 pages.</li><li>Published in 1804.</li></ul> Volume IV:<ul><li>viii, 626, [2], 16 pages.</li><li>Published in 1805.</li></ul> Volume V:<ul><li>vii, [1] 779, [1], 36 pages.</li><li>Published in 1807.</li></ul> Volume VI:<ul><li>"The Life of George Washington: Maps and Subscribers' Names"</li><li>[2], 10 engraved folding maps (8 double-page), 22 pages).</li><li>Published in 1807.</li></ul>

The Life of George Washington, Commander in Chief of the American Forces First American Edition

Peter R. Betz

An archive of more than 1100 photos from the service of a single soldier before, during, and immediately after World War II.<ul><li>Sold as a set of over 1100 photos, contained in 5 albums.</li><li>Peter R. Betz (American).</li><li>Various places, (1927-1946). </li></ul> Contents and Condition Notes: Oblong string-tied commercial album, imitation leather titled "Photographs" with small portrait photo, cut to the shape of a key-hole, fixed to front cover.<ul><li>163 photographs of various snapshot sizes, corner-mounted to leaves recto and verso, most with holograph captions and several small doodles. </li><li>Approximately half are colorized. </li><li>Photographs depict family vacations, bicycle racing, aviation, scouting, and other subjects, dated from 1927 to 1935. </li><li>Five photographs and a bicycle race program laid-in. </li><li>Four hand-made title pages dividing album into sections. </li><li>Album is generally in good condition, with some rubbing and wear and a tear at the front cover to which tape has been applied. </li><li>"Aviation Section" of nine leaves is lacking most photographs. </li><li>First painted title page adhered to the cover opposing it. </li><li>Most photos about fine.</li></ul> Oblong commercial photo album, lacquer cover with surfing scene and "Aloha Hawaii" at rear; lacking front cover. <ul><li>226 black and white photographs, most with captions, corner mounted to 25 leaves recto and verso. </li><li>Photos primarily military scenes in Hawaii and Panama from 1937-1938 with several family photographs.</li><li>Album in poor condition: lacking the front cover, rear cover and leaves edge-worn and many photographs loose from their mounts. </li><li>Still most photographs about fine. </li></ul> Oblong string-tied commercial album titled "Photographs," hand-lettered title page "G.I./ Memories/Feb. 6 1942-Nov. 17 1945" (above right) with domestic and Pacific theatre place names listed. <ul><li>202 photographs, various sizes.</li><li>Photos primarily from Hawaii and New Guinea. </li><li>Laid in at rear is a promotional calendar for 1944, upon which a rendering of a B-2 has been drawn. </li><li>Album generally good. </li><li>Front cover detached but present. </li><li>Covers edge-worn.</li><li>Leaves suffer some chipping to edges. </li><li>Some photographs have come loose from their mounts, but most in fine condition. </li></ul> Oblong string-tied album, brown imitation leather with "Photographs" printed at front cover. <ul><li>252 photographs of various snapshot sizes, a handful larger, mounted recto and verso to 36 leaves plus leaf of photo-strips with a total of 50 images. </li><li>Most photos with holograph captions from Oahu, New Guinea, and various locations throughout the Philippines. </li><li>Dated 1945. </li><li>Album suffers some edge-wear, front joint starting. </li><li>Several pages disbound. </li><li>Some photographs dismounted, most generally fine. </li></ul> Oblong string-tied commercial album, imitation leather embossed with a horse bust design and "Photographs" at front cover. <ul><li>Hand-lettered title page "Nanking China/Nov. 9th 1945/ to/ Feb. 12th 1946". </li><li>Approximately 290 black and white photos, corner-mounted to 14 leaves recto and verso, most with hand-written captions. </li><li>Photographs depict scenes from an airfield, the city of Nanking (Nanjing,) Shanghai, aboard the transport ship USS General Scott, arrival in Seattle, train journey, domestic family scenes and a welcoming parade in Buffalo, NY. </li><li>Laid in are four photographs of various sizes. </li><li>Album lightly edge-worn. </li><li>Some pages disbound but present.</li></ul> Collection by Peter R. Betz with detailed and captioned photographs of the Philippines Campaign, as well as many other experiences of a soldier's life during the WWII. Peter R. Betz (identified by his name and postwar address in the rear of two of the albums) served with the U.S. Army in the Pacific, and his photographs document that theater and the Philippines Campaign in detail. Nearly every photograph features Betz's neat, holograph captions, and the albums in general are highly organized, making for an incredibly thorough photographic biography of a soldier. The earliest photographs are dated 1927 and feature images of a Boy Scout troop and camping trip. Two of the albums also contain several images of the Betz's family, including parents, siblings, and cousins. Many of these family portraits are hand tinted. Betz's documentation of his Army career begins in 1937 and '38, with his service in Hawaii and Panama. The photographs regarding this time are casual and candid: soldiers relaxing in barracks and off-base in Honolulu and Waikiki beach, hiking trips in the mountains of Hawaii, native Hawaiians in traditional dress, a visit from President Roosevelt, as well as (separately) from Gracie Allen and George Burns. And photographs of the Panama Canal lock system in action reveal a keen interest in mechanics and engineering. Wartime photographs are contained primarily in two albums. The first, titled "G.I. Memories, Feb. 6, 1942 - Nov. 17, 1945" (above) features over 200 images. These include stateside images of Camp Croft and Sand Hill, SC. A second deployment to Hawaii also features heavily, including many of the same kinds of images as appeared earlier. The album contains a notable series of 28 photographs taken in New Guinea, identified by Betz as "Native dance...started Friday thru Sunday night." 47 photos from December 1944 to January 1945 in Leyte, Philippines show US Army barracks and soldiers, native Filipinos (mostly children), countryside, numerous aircraft and ships, and the aftermath of one or more unidentified battles (as left). The second album focuses almost entirely on operations in the Philippines. These include eighteen photographs, with aerial shots, labeled "Air Drop," eleven photographs "taken from" and of Japanese soldiers, and six showing a Japanese surrender on an unidentified airfield. Most importantly, however, over 60 photos that trace the U.S. effort to retake islands from the Japanese, including the January 29, 1945 beach landing at San Narciso, which marked the beginning of the Battle of Bataan. Also noteworthy: Mariveles and the aftermath of fighting in Zig Zag Pass, preparing for the detonation of Fort Drum in Manila Bay on April 12, 1945, followed by images of a beach landing on and aerial shots of Carabao Island on April 16. Additionally: 100 photos, dated January-October 1946, of Luzon after the liberation of the island. The photographs show soldiers and native Filipinos, including Negrito resistance fighters armed with bow and arrow, as well as villages and buildings, many showing the effects of the war. A final album documents, in over 200 images, Betz's experience immediately after the end of hostilities, where he served out his enlistment in Nanking and Shanghai, China. Dated Now. 9, 1945 - Feb. 12, 1946, these photographs show various aspects of the city, soldiers, and people, as well as US and Japanese planes, ships, and like. The album concludes with photographs taken from the deck of the USS General Scott during Betz's return voyage to the United States. Betz was a serious student of photography, and his images demonstrate a keen eye for framing and documentary. As comprehensive an archive of a soldier's WWII service as we've encountered. While vernacular albums from this era do turn up, we aren't aware of any as large, or as comprehensively-captioned, that focuses on a single person as this one. Indeed, both circumstances of life in the Pacific theater, as well as formal censorship policies and security restrictions made assembling such a large collection extraordinarily difficult. A rare, compelling, and significant collection.

Photograph Archive of a WWII Soldier's Life In The Pacific Theater

A pair of muster rolls from the <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Civil%20War&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Civil War</a>, 1863, documenting the pay of the Union company just before their fateful role in turning back Pickett's Charge, "the high-water mark of the Confederacy." <ul><li>With incomplete payments offering poignant evidence of their losses during the battle.</li><li>Handwritten ledger.</li></ul>

Civil War Muster Rolls for Alonzo Cushing's Battery, Company A of the 4th US Artillery

James Burgh

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Subject=Fine%2520bindings" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">finely bound</a>, <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first American edition</a> of a seminal political work which influenced the founding fathers.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 3 volumes.</li><li>James Burgh (British).</li><li>Political Disquisitions; or, an Enquiry into Public Errors, Defects, and Abuses. Illustrated by ... Facts and Remarks, Extracted from a Variety of Authors, Ancient and Modern.</li><li>Philadelphia:&nbsp;Robert Bell and William Woodhouse,&nbsp;1775.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>xxii, [8], 486; vii, [7], 477; [16], 460, [53] pages, plus publisher's advertisements in each volume.</li><li>Bound in contemporary calf, rebacked (volumes 1–2) and modern near uniform calf (volume 3).</li></ul> This lengthy political treatise is actually of the utmost interest for its espousal of a moderate political stance, and especially for having influenced the Founders. The book includes a seventy-page section on taxation of colonies, with heavy criticism of oppressive duties imposed upon the colonists. The third volume of this first American edition includes a list of subscribers, beginning with George Washington, "Generalissimo of all the Forces in America, and a Member of the Honorable, the American Continental Congress." Other members of the Continental Congress listed are Samuel Chase, John Dickinson, John De Hart, Silas Deane, Christopher Gadsden, Robert Goldsborough, John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Mifflin, Henry Middleton, Thomas McKean, George Ross, John Sullivan, Roger Sherman, James Wilson, Charles Thomson, and John Zubley. With a roster of such distinguished subscribers, one might assert that since Burgh's work was at the fingertips of these men, the book was likely of considerable influence among them. Indeed, it has been stated that "Burgh's Political Disquisitions are said to have produced a great effect upon the mind of the American colonists during the Revolution" (W. Govane quoted by Sabin). With the list of subscribers is a lengthy aside by the American editors (Bell and Woodhouse) quoting Sullivan ("It is better that 50 Thousand Men should be slain...than that 50 Thousand Men should live to be made slaves"), and castigating "any of Mr. Lukewarm's Family, who are always numerous among the timid, [who] buy this Book, and unhappily think he hath too much for the Money. He may immediately apply the following remedy — Either tear the offensive leaf out — or more effectually to punish the forward Editor — Burn the whole Book.... For some Minds are strangely squeamish, and think it a great Crime for a struggling bookseller, to support or produce Opinions, although he charge nothing for them..."

Political Disquisitions

Jacqueline Kennedy

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?locale=en&amp;query=photograph&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en&amp;filters.type=Buy%20Now" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">photograph</a> of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?locale=en&amp;query=kennedy&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">JFK</a> and Jackie, signed by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?locale=en&amp;query=Jackie%20Kennedy&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en&amp;filters.type=Buy%20Now" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jackie Kennedy</a>.<ul><li>Printed February, 1964.</li><li>Inscribed on the photo "For Dr. Tavell-with deepest appreciation for everything/ With affection/ Jacqueline Kennedy."</li><li>Mounted.</li><li>Laid into green morocco spine and cloth drop box.</li></ul> Dr. Janet G. Travell (1901-1997) was a New York physician was and medical researcher. She was appointed the personal physician to President John F. Kennedy in 1961. She graduated from Wellesley College and Cornell University Medical College. She was the first female doctor to be the personal physician to a sitting United States president and retained that post until March,1965. Her specialty was treating muscular pain. Kennedy's injuries from WW II were the beginnings of his back pain problems. She helped him in the late 1950s so much that he chose her as his personal physician while he was in the White House. The photo is accompanied by a small typed note on White House stationery signed by Tavell which explains that this photo was taken when the Kennedys were in Mexico at the end of June, 1962.

Photograph of President John F. Kennedy and Jackie | Inscribed by Jackie Kennedy

The Executive Reports from the Congress of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=james%20monroe&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Monroe</a>'s presidency.<ul><li>House of Representatives, United States.</li><li>Volume I, Complete.</li><li>Washington D.C:&nbsp;Gales &amp; Seaton,&nbsp;1823.&nbsp;</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>First edition thus.&nbsp;</li><li>11, 16, 15, 206, 4, 5, 3, [3], 8, 4, 4, 4, 3, 4, 25, 5, 24 pages.</li><li>Full brown calf, with chipped gilt-lettered spine label.</li></ul> Contains all 16 numbers appearing in Volume I of the U.S. House-ordered printing. Appears to contain all folding tables (41 in total).

Executive Reports, At The First Session Of The Eighteenth Congress Of The United States

A collection of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a> issues of The Gentleman's Magazine, encompassing the period of the <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?locale=en&amp;query=American%20Revolution&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">American Revolution</a>, 1774-1783.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 11 volumes.</li><li>Edited by Sylvanus Urban [Edward Cave] (English).</li><li>London: For D. Henry, 1774-1783 .</li><li>Octavos.</li><li>Bound variously in quarter calf bindings with marbled paper boards or in full speckled brown calf, all volumes with red leather labels bearing gilt titling.</li></ul> Contents:Vol. XLIV (1774) ([4], 628, [16] pages). Title page loosening. Lacking "Plate IX. Curiosities of Herculaneum", "View of Bolton Castle", "Plate XI. (marked X.) Curiosities of Herculaneum", and "Map of the Roads from London to Barnard Castle". Other plates present as described in Charles St. Barbe. Vol. XLV (1775) ([iv, 639, [13] pages). "A Plan of the Town and Chart of the Harbour at Boston" inserted after p. 41. Lacking "Map of the Road from London to St. David's", "Plate XII. (marked XI.) of Curiosities of Herculaneum", "Dr. Johnson's introduction to a Highland Hut", "Plate XIII. (marked XII.)", "Map of the Road from London to Norwich", "Map of the Road from London to Shrewsbury", "Map of the Road from York to Chester", "A View of Wingfield Castle", "Plate XIV. (marked XIII. Curiosities of Herculaneum," and "A Map of the Road from London to Barnstaple and Truro". "Plan of the Town of Boston" is inserted after p. 492. Other plates present as described in Charles St. Barbe. Vol. XLVI (1776) ([4], 609, [15] pages). Lacking "Dr. Johnson's Entertainment at a Highland Change or Inn" and "Map of Connecticut and Rhode Island". "Map of New York" bound in after p. 606. Other plates present as described in Charles St. Barbe. Vol. XLVII (1777) ([4], 642, [14] pages). "A Map of Philadelphia and Parts Adjacent" and "Portrait of Lazarus Coloredo" are inserted after p. 572. "A Bird, the Hoopoe" is inserted before p. 313. Lacking "Roman Inscriptions at Nismes". All other plates present as described in Charles St. Barbe. Vol. XLVIII (1778) ([4], 645, [15] pages). Lacking "View of Woolsthorp House", "View of the Cascade of Velika Gubaviza", and "The Larva of the Moth Sphinx Atropos"; all other plates present as described in Charles St. Barbe. Vol. XLIX (1779) ([4], 649, [15] pages). Front board shaken; free endpaper loose but present. "Elevation of the Back of the North Front of Somerset House" inserted after p. 392. All other plates present as described in Charles St. Barbe. Vol. L (1780) ([4], 628, [16] pages). Front board shaken. Lacking "Portrait of Joseph Highmore"; all other plates present as described in Charles St. Barbe. Vol. LI (1781) ([3], 598-600, iii-iv, 633, [15] pages). Lacking "Four Figures illustrating the doctrine of Water-spouts"; all other plates present as listed in Charles St. Barbe. Vol. LII (1782) (iv, 631, [17] pages. Lacking "Portrait of George Sandys [etc.]", "View of the Temple of the Sepulchre"; other plates present as described in Charles St. Barbe. Vol. LIII, Part 1 (1783) (iv, 543, [1] pages). Some margins narrowly trimmed resulting in minor loss at edges of pages. All plates present as described in Charles St. Barbe. Vol. LIII, Part 2 (1783) ([2], 545-1067, [27] pages. Lacking "Elevation of the Front of the Cathedral at Lisieux"; other plates present as described in Charles St. Barbe.

The Gentleman's Magazine: The American Revolutionary War Years

Frederick Douglass

A first edition copy of My Bondage and My Freedom, by Frederick Douglass.<ul><li>Frederick Douglass (American).</li><li>My Bondage and My Freedom: Part I - Life as a Slave, Part II - Life as a Freeman...with an Introduction by Dr.James M'Cune Smith.</li><li>New York and Auburn:&nbsp;Miller, Orton and Mulligan, 1855.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>464 pages.</li><li>With frontispiece and plates.</li><li>Bound in the publisher's brown cloth, blocked in blind, spine lettered in gilt, yellow endpapers.</li></ul> Douglass published his first autobiography, Narrative of the Life, in 1845 in which he described his years in captivity in Maryland and his eventual escape and involvement in the abolition movement. "Published seven years after the author escaped slavery. It is probably the best known narrative of the ante-bellum period" (Blockson). Ten years later, he heavily revised and expanded his autobiography as the present My Bondage and My Freedom. Almost three times the length of the Narrative, My Bondage provides considerably more detail about Douglass' enslavement and escape and includes events which had occurred between 1845 and 1855 as a free man. Notably, the book also includes an appendix with extracts from some of Douglass notable speeches, including both his famous "Letter to His Old Master" and "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July." The work also includes a new introduction by African American abolitionist James McCune Smith, whom Douglass described as "the single most important influence" on his life. The book was an instant bestseller, selling around 5,000 copies in two days.

My Bondage and My Freedom

First edition of Douglass' autobiography.<ul><li>Frederick Douglass (American).</li><li>Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave.</li><li>Boston:&nbsp;Anti-Slavery Office,&nbsp;1845.&nbsp;</li><li>xvi, 125 pages.&nbsp;</li><li>Bound in publisher's brown cloth with lettering in gilt and stamping in blind.&nbsp;</li></ul>

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

JOHN F. KENNEDY

First edition of John F. Kennedy’s first book, Why England Slept, inscribed to newsman Arthur Krock, also includes As We Remember Joe, The Enemy Within, and The Fruitful Bough.<ul><li>John F. Kennedy (American).</li><li>Inscribed to Arthur Krock: “To Mr. Krock. Who Baptized, Christened, and was Best Man for this book — with my sincere thanks, Jack Kennedy.”</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Wilfred Funk, Inc,&nbsp;1940.</li><li>&nbsp;xx, 252 pp.</li><li>8vo.</li><li>Publisher’s rose cloth.</li><li>Sold as a set of 4 titles authored by Kennedy, including As We Remember Joe, The Enemy Within, The Fruitful Bough: A Tribute to Joseph P. Kennedy.</li></ul> Arthur Krock (1886-1974), the “Dean of Washington Newsmen,” was Washington correspondent and bureau chief for The New York Times and wrote the “In the Nation” column. He was a close friend and political ally of Joe Kennedy and his children. He advised John F. Kennedy with the revisions of his 1939 senior honors paper, "Appeasement in Munich,” in preparation for its publication the following year. It was Krock who suggested the new title, Why England Slept, a response to Churchill’s While England Slept. Krock would continue to advise the young Kennedy, who thanked him In the Preface to Profiles in Courage. Ted Kennedy wrote admiringly of Krock in his tribute volume to his father: “Mr. Krock has long been one of the most respected newsmen and columnists in Washington. He won two Pulitzer Prizes for his work. He met Dad [Joseph Kennedy] during the New Deal years and won his deep admiration. Mr. Krock advised President Kennedy in the writing of his first book, Why England Slept, and has been a source of valued help to my brothers and myself.” (Edward Kennedy, The Fruitful Bough: A Tribute to Joseph P. Kennedy, p. 112) Additional included titles: As We Remember Joe. Edited by John F. Kennedy. Privately Printed: Cambridge, Mass, 1945. First edition, second issue. Original burgundy cloth. Fine copy. Inscribed, “For Martha and Arthur Krock, Bob Kennedy. Christmas 1965.” Krock contributed a short reminiscence of Joe Kennedy from the 1940 Democratic National Convention, pp. 39-41. The Enemy Within. Kennedy, Robert F. Harper &amp; Brothers: New York, 1960. First edition. Publisher’s cloth. Spine faded. Inscribed, “To Arthur Krock, With the thanks and admiration of his friend, Bob Kennedy.” Krock wrote the foreword to The Enemy Within. The Fruitful Bough: A Tribute to Joseph P. Kennedy. Collected by Edward M. Kennedy. Privately Printed, 1965. Original blue cloth. Some scuffing to front cover. Inscribed, “To Arthur Krock, Who helped make The Fruitful Bough possible. With appreciation. Ted Kennedy. Sept 6 1965.” With carbon of typescript of Krock's contribution to the volume as submitted for editing.

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Frederick Douglass

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